For the past month I've been working with San Jose based artist Bill Gould on a Kickstarter project to fund a public piece of art in Poland. The sculpture will be a representation of a group of five giant poppies, standing 8 meters tall, and 8 meters in diameter at the base.The project called "Maki", the polish word for poppy, will be the first of it's kind in the Czuby neighborhood, in the city of Lublin. Gould lived in Lublin for two years in the 80's, and has always wanted to create a public art piece there; He now wants to show people that privately funded public art can become a reality.

The Maki Project is unique because of the tremendous amount of community involvement in the creation of the final piece. Gould feels it essential that the community is involved, in multiple ways. He has sought out local artists, contractors, fabricators, architects, city officials, and community members to work on the project. He has partnered with Polish ceramic artist Arek Szwed, and has been offering free ceramic workshops to members of the Czuby community. In the workshops, participants create ceramic tiles that will become part of the finished piece. Over 700 handmade tiles will hang from the steel frame of the poppies petals, and be a constant source of pride for the community. Our Kickstarter campaign ends in just a few days, at 11:30am on March 3rd. Any money that is donated abouve the funding goal will still be used to support public art in the Lublin community; It will be donated to the non-profit FR2-SP2, which Gould & Szwed co-founded last year.I am donating a limited edition of linocut prints based on poppies. Contributors of $100 or more can choose to receive one through Kickstarter. Watch for future posts with photos and progress.

To learn more about the Maki Project, watch the video and visit our page on Kickstarter by clicking this link: http://kck.st/1a81EYAThe project was recently written up in the San Jose Mercury News. It also lists some of Gould's public art and architecture projects Silicon Valley residents may be familiar with. Read it here.